Humboldt: Supes ask for public's take on marijuana ordinance

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors discussed Tuesday a draft outdoor marijuana cultivation ordinance and directed staff to plan community meetings in the southern and eastern parts of the county to gather public input.

Fifth District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said he's been pushing for movement on an ordinance, which county staff has been researching for nearly one year.

The proposed law would consider outdoor grows a nuisance unless registered with the county, and would be designed to reduce environmental harm from unregulated water withdrawals, dumping and the use of rodenticides, according to a staff report.

"I get complaints from it all summer long," Sundberg said. "When I address those complaints, I'm told it's 215 and nothing can be done."

Proposition 215 legalized the use of medical marijuana in the state when passed by California voters in 1996.

Ten people spoke during Tuesday's meeting, some expressing concerns about the potential ordinance or suggesting changes while others supported county action.

Willow Creek resident E.B. Duggan said he'd been before the board previously to discuss the effects of marijuana cultivation in his neighborhood. The nuisance begins in mid-June with the fertilizer smell, Duggan said.

"Then, after that, we have to contend with the stench of skunk of marijuana," he said.

He said growers "do their best to bully and intimidate our neighbors."

"We just can't continue on with this," he said. "My children and my grandchildren won't even come down and visit anymore."

Cutten attorney Kathleen Bryson, who defends marijuana cases, said she couldn't imagine people voluntary registering for a program. The county has laid out several alternatives for gathering and keeping information.

"I just don't know what incentive there is for people to get involved with this," she said. "It's putting them on the radar."

"I'm still scared to death of the feds," First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said. "We can't afford to be fighting these things in court."

Second District Supervisor Estelle Fennell said she sees a lot of problems with a potential ordinance.

"My duty as a representative of the county is to protect the county from legal challenges, if at all possible," she said.

Fennell referred to an Associated Press story Tuesday in which eight former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs called on President Barack Obama to nullify recent laws legalizing marijuana in Washington and Colorado.

"We're not on very firm ground," she said.

Sundberg said he's not fearful of federal scrutiny because the county already passed an ordinance regarding indoor marijuana cultivation.

Smith said the county originally wanted to have one "global" ordinance that dealt with indoor grows, outdoor grows and dispensaries.

"It quickly became apparent that wasn't going to happen," she said. "It was too big of an issue."

Smith said county staff is not recommending that the board follow Mendocino County's model because of the recent federal action.

Instead, they modeled the draft outline ordinance largely after a Tehama County registration-based ordinance.

"That has also been subject to legal challenge but has withstood," she said.

Smith said the state Supreme Court is currently reviewing whether counties can use nuisance law to enforce marijuana codes.

"It looks pretty favorable for the local jurisdictions in that," she said.

County Administrative Officer Phillip Smith-Hanes acknowledged that an ordinance could face litigation.

"Based on the history of marijuana law in California, you can almost guarantee it will be challenged," he said.

The proposed draft ordinance considers options for limiting the size of a marijuana grow based on the size of a parcel.

"We purposely put in 'legal parcels,'" Smith said. "The purpose of that is really to discourage people from doing illegal subdivisions."

Bohn raised the question of shaded parcels -- land that has an uncertain legal status because it has not been recorded for development with the county planning department.

Smith said the status of shaded parcels would be visited, if the ordinance was enforced on a property.

"That's really only gonna come up as a part of enforcement," she said.

Smith-Hanes said that was the key to the proposed law.

"This is a responsive ordinance," he said. "This is not the county going looking for illegal grows."

Alderpoint attorney Eugene Denson and Bryson said the county should focus on funding the sheriff's office and enforcing existing laws.

"Funding is more important that putting another burden on (Sheriff Mike Downey's) shoulders," Bryson said.

Bohn said he would much rather fund the sheriff's to go after methamphetamine, saying people should be "shot if they make meth."

"I didn't mean we should shoot anybody," he said later, adding that he was heated because he sees methamphetamine as a contributing to the "degradation of society."

The supervisors agreed that more public input was needed, and Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace motioned for staff to plan at least three meetings in the southern and eastern parts of the county. The motion passed unanimously.